Conventional PC card connector assemblies, such as those that receive PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card Interface Association)-style cards, are illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 include a connector (C) with signal terminals (1B) adapted for connecting signal contacts of the card to corresponding signal traces of an underlying circuit board (B) and a separate ground plate including ground terminals (1A) for contacting corresponding ground contacts on the card and a plurality of ground solder tails (1C) adapted to be soldered to ground traces of the underlying circuit board to common the ground plate to the ground of the circuit board.
However, many of the grounding plates of prior art PC card connector assemblies are difficult to manufacture and complicated to assemble. Furthermore, many of the ground plates of the prior art include shield portions which extend over portions of the signal terminals of the connector, which makes inspection of the solder joints of the signal contacts to the underlying circuit board difficult, if not impossible. This configuration can also cause open circuit and short circuit conditions, which is undesirable. Still further, in some prior art ground plates, the location of the connection to the printed circuit board is made underneath a portion of the connector and thus visual inspection of the ground terminal solder joint is difficult. Also, many of the ground plates of the prior art include solder tails which extend through the thickness of the circuit board and interfere with component placement on an underside of the board, thus using up valuable surface area of the circuit board and preventing maximum density of components within an electronic apparatus. Finally, many of the prior art ground plates are assembled to their underlying connector in a sliding or horizontal direction and therefore cannot be adapted to automated assembly, which assembles components only in a vertical direction.